Category: EdTech

This week was our first week of in person classes being cancelled due to COVID-19. I had wondered what this was going to look like for our courses going forward and it seems as though the only class that is taking a technology approach to continue with lectures is with this  class!

Today, we had class on a program called Zoom. I have recently been hearing lots about this program for conference calls and connecting with staff, but had not used it before. Overall, I was quite impressed with the overall quality of the program, as it feels like most programs like FaceTime, Skype or Facebook calling have major bugs and limits, which makes it difficult to use. Here is an outline of some of the Pros and Cons that I came up with for Zoom:

Pros:

• Video Calling/Audio Calling
• Can bring multiple people into calls (perfect for our situation)
• Screen sharing (great for presentations)

Cons:

• People can get distracted by other things around them (less likely to focus than being in a classroom setting). That being said, we don’t have the option to be in classrooms right now, so this program provides a great alternative
• Glitchy. This one feels pretty unavoidable with most technology and I think people expect it. Perhaps the program is also a bit delayed due to the amount of people using it
• Having to use headphones while using to improve sound quality

Obviously after only using it once for this lecture, I feel that these pros and cons probably don’t give it a full overview, but in terms of using it for an online class setting I thought it worked very well!

This week, we had a guest speaker and students come to our class to talk to us about Minecraft and lead us through an activity. I had just heard the news of my Sweden practicum being cancelled, so was not feeling extremely focused. Rich, had excused us from blog posts for that week, but I will reflect on the part that I stayed for.

Hearing Heidi explain that it can be used as a tool for incorporating technology in a classroom while also making it educational in subjects like social studies or math was something I never had considered. It was nice to have her students in the classroom be so eager to help us navigate through the system and answer any questions. You could tell that this program was something that they were very passionate about and for some had created an avenue for pursuing a career in architecture!

I will definitely consider using Minecraft in my future classroom if possible. I think that Heidi having support from her school administrators is a real bonus and I would be interested to know what other schools think about using Minecraft.

This week we learned how Screencastify works and were asked to come up with a hypothetical inquiry question that we could use in our future classrooms. I found a website called DK Find Out! and it has resources for teachers, parents and students! To give you an idea of what the website can offer,  please refer to the video made from Screencastify below. I decided to focus my inquiry on something related to animals and nature. By selecting that choice through the home page it brought me to a wire variety of animals and nature to select. Within each of those topics they provide specific information, pictures, quiz-like games, and more!

With our visit in Rebecca’s classroom in mind, this website feels like a great tool for students to use to develop inquiries. Screencastify would be a great tool for students to use to document their learning, potentially record presentations, create awareness on environmental sustainability (less paper being used) and would be a good way to incorporate technology into the class. Screencastify could also provide many positives for teachers. For example, teachers can provide instructional videos for students to use as reference over and over again. This would also work well for any students who perhaps miss class and provides a chance for them to watch and understand what they missed and need to do. I also could see this being useful for a teacher to use and provide to a substitute teacher. This would give the sub a chance to understand instructions with voice as well. Students could also use it for reference in that scenario as well.

Overall, I would love to find a way to incorporate Screencastify in my future classroom, as I think it provides many benefits for students and teachers!

When I heard that we were going to George Jay Elementary School, I was hoping that it was going to involve Rebecca Bathurst’s classroom! My friends’ daughter goes to George Jay and they had been explaining to me what a great kindergarten teacher their daughter had.  I never knew that Rebecca was the teacher until I was in the classroom and saw the class photo with my friends’ daughter in it! I had also came across Rebecca’s instagram account from a teacher friend and was inspired by her account!

I really enjoyed the experience of hearing from Rebecca and getting to see her classroom set up. It was nice to see what was on Instagram in real life and be able to get some inspiration for my future classroom one day! Not only do I think that inquiry-based learning has such a great benefit to kids, I also really enjoyed how most of the classroom activities, art, displays, etc. were mostly from natural materials and made by the students. One of our professors from this program had explained how important it is to involve the children in organizing and creating the classroom space as well as what is on display and I felt that Rebecca did a great job of showcasing how that is done in real life.

Another aspect that I felt she hit in terms of what we are being taught in this program is how important it is to build student relationships. I really like that she focuses on building relationships with not only students, but their families and that she dedicates time to do so. I think that teachers may feel the pressure to teach children what they need to learn from the curriculum by a certain point and maybe that means focusing less on those student-teacher relationships. In an inquiry-based learning environment, I believe it is very crucial to develop this aspect or else you won’t truly know your students or what inspires them! I hope to find time to read Rebecca’s book at some point (hopefully before practicum!).

The field trip to the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry was very interesting! I had never heard of this school before, so to see what their approach was and get to see the actual school space was a good learning experience.

One thing that the principle, Jeff Hopkins, talked about was how they try and intergrade their students into the public as much as possible. I think that this is a really great idea for teenagers to be doing, as I feel that high school settings can sometimes shelter students to what the norm in society is. He compared the difference between most high schools to PSII and that in PSII learners are encouraged to develop their inquiries using the world outside, whereas most high schools try to make hypothetical learning environments within the school.

Inquiry-based learning was something that I hadn’t heard of before being in the Elementary Education Program at UVic and I am thankful that it is something that educators are trying to implement into the school system. Obviously PSII has a very inquiry-based learning environment, but I think that this style of learning should and could be implemented into elementary and high school classrooms.

Overall, I think it is great that there is an alternative school in Victoria, BC for students who maybe don’t succeed in the traditional setting that is in place at most high schools.  I know from my own high school experience, the ways that I was being taught wasn’t working for my learning style, so I wonder if this type of learning environment would have helped me succeed.

In today’s class we had Jesse Miller come and speak to us about online privacy and safety. It was very interesting to hear what he had to say about children using technology and how the content that we post online can potentially impact our professional lives in the future.

Something that he talked about that resonated with me was that as working professionals or students we spend majority of our day using technology, yet there seems to be a known debate of restricting technology use from young children. Jesse talked about the importance of quantity of time versus the quality. If children learn how to use technology in a safe, respectful and productive way, I think that it could benefit them as adults because as mentioned above, most adults rely on using technology for work or education. I also think that once children start using technology you have to be careful because it can become a tricky scenario when children become too dependent on technology as a source of entertainment and fun. Therefore, I think finding the balance is important and ensuring that technology is being used appropriately if children are using it at home and at school.

I know that in my education (K-12), technology wasn’t widely used and that even when people did start to use cell phones and the internet, there wasn’t discussions around privacy and safety, in particular regarding posting pictures online. I think that that comes from the fact that the internet was not where it is today and that maybe people were not educated on how the internet works yet. Regardless, as someone who posted pictures on Facebook without having any realization of how difficult it would be to remove photos later, I wish that I had had someone talk to my generation about privacy and safety in a way that would make me understand. That being said, I also wonder if I had had someone talk to me about this topic that I wouldn’t have cared or understood the impact and if that was my mindset or the mindset of someone using social media, that they are perhaps too young to be using it?

I have recently signed up for Twitter and although I don’t seem to be using it often or have much interest in Twitter as I do for other social media tools, I have been thinking about ways that it could be useful in my future elementary classroom.

If Twitter was introduced to the right age group and discussions were had with students around privacy and proper use of the app, I think it could be used as a useful tool with incorporating curriculum and different subjects into the classroom. My initial thought is that it opens up too many possibilities for privacy issues and  viewing sensitive content.  Therefore, I would probably steer away from using Twitter in my classroom. That being said, I have made a list of the pros and cons when thinking about using Twitter in a higher grade classroom:

PROS

Inspiration:  Twitter has so much information on different topics that it could be used as a tool for students to explore different topics.

Engagement: Using Twitter in a classroom could provide an opportunity for students and teachers to communicate. It also allows students to connect with community and in their school, as most schools have their own Twitter account.

Concise Writing: As there is a limit of characters allowed per tweet on Twitter it makes students become concise writers, which is an important learning skill.

CONS

Distraction: Social media can turn into a distraction for students, however clear rules about when and how Twitter should be used can be established.

Bullying:  Social media opens up a space for students to bully or to be bullied. That being said, using Twitter in a classroom could provide a lesson to students about cyberbullying and how to treat others with respect.

Overall, I think that there are positives and learning opportunities that come with using Twitter in a classroom, but I believe the concept of Twitter can also be applied to a classroom without using the actual Twitter app. One example that I read about was that a English Language Arts Teacher used a bulletin board related to a book that they were reading and students were asked to make “tweets” with a limit on characters and post it to the bulletin board. I thought this was a great way to introduce the idea of Twitter and how it works without having to fully rely on the Twitter app.

So what is Google My Maps?

• The difference between Google My Maps and Google Maps is that it allows you to create custom maps connecting you to the places that matter most!
• Custom maps are stored to your Google Drive account
• Maps can only be viewed when shared with other people

Educational Benefits:

Google My Maps is a tool that may be overlooked in the classroom but could bring many different benefits! From our research, we found the following could be subject areas that would profit from the use of My Maps:

• Social studies/Geography (Emergency preparedness plan, environmental awareness)
• Place-based learning (Learn about the local environment and how that compares to other environments)
• Mathematics (Distance, word problems, equations, and problem-solving)
• Community involvement (Research where local amenities, buildings, halls, schools, shopping centres, etc. are in comparison to other destinations)
• Social connections and knowing your surroundings
• Field trip/trip planning (Show students what goes into planning for a trip and involve them into learning about where they will be travelling/the distance they will go/what means of transportation they will be using

Privacy and Security:

Some of the privacy and security policies that Google has in place with My Maps includes:

• Street View Imagery is Not Real-Time: imagery is collected over many years

• Google takes steps to protect the privacy of individuals when Street View is published to Google Maps by blurring
• Inappropriate Content can be reported
• Intellectual property violation – Google does not allow images or content that infringes on anyone else’s legal rights (including copyright)

Pro’s & Con’s:

Cons:

• Sharing of personal location
• Limited application
• Time-consuming
• Challenging tool for younger student

Pros:

• Creates learning opportunities (listed above)
• Helps students feel connected to peers and the world around them
• Interactive learning

Map away! Discover today!

What obstacles do educators face when they try to change pedagogy?

I believe that educators face issues when trying to change pedagogy for various reasons. As discussed in class, some of the older generation of teachers have had an entirely different educational experience and life experiences than the current generation and it seems as though some of those teachers may be somewhat stuck in their way with regards to new pedagogy. That reluctancy from teachers and staff can provide the new generation of teachers with conflict, as they might not be receiving the support and collaboration that is useful when trying new pedagogy in a school. That being said, looking at the viewpoint from the teacher from the older generation I can imagine that trying to incorporate new pedagogy may be time consuming and overwhelming to some.

One benefit with pursuing this career now is that we are being educated with BC’s new Curriculum and are being provided with the resources and information that will be relevant to our career. It may be difficult for the older generation of teachers to find effective resources and tools to find confidence in trying new pedagogy.

Another obstacle that I can imagine teachers facing when trying new pedagogy is the pressure from parents. I believe that some parents hold the schools and teachers accountable for teaching their children certain things and maybe in a certain way. As a future teacher, I hope to find balance between respecting parents needs and wants while also creating a class learning environment that is positive and fits the needs of all students!

Today was our first class of EDCI 336! We had a brief group introduction and went through the course outline. We then started working on creating our OpenEd.ca website with WordPress.

The process of starting this website has been interesting and educational! I have previously created a website with Google in a different course, but did not have any instructions so I have found this process to be more beneficial for my learning style.

I look forward to adding more to this website and see the development throughout this semester! I also hope to learn how using a blog could be beneficial in an elementary or middle school setting. I have previously considered the idea of using blogs in an elementary or middle school class setting through projects, specifically with literacy. I believe that it would provide many useful lessons on how to properly use online platforms as well develop students’ literacy skills.

Here is a website that has useful information for creating this website: http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AZ8GqW5iak

Clara Kucher